Wings of modern commercial aircraft and air freighters with a high take-off weight are subject to considerable requirements. On the one hand, the weight of the wing structure should be as low as possible, but the mechanical stability and elasticity should suffice for extreme flight maneuvers that are used as a design basis. A high reliability, as well as a particularly small number of individual parts, needs to be ensured in order to increase the safety of the aircraft and to improve the maintainability. In addition to stability and reliability aspects, the wing construction also needs to be as slender as possible in order to achieve the least possible drag, but still provide the greatest lift possible, wherein it is attempted to achieve a laminar flow, in particular, on the upper side of the wing.
A wing of a modern aircraft comprises at least one so-called wing box, in which several two-spar bending beams are arranged that are connected into a box-like element with the aid of ribs and by means of upper and lower shells that are reinforced with longitudinal reinforcing elements. This so-called wing box primarily serves for absorbing mechanical stresses during the flight. The upper and lower shell of the wing box are correspondingly shaped in order to achieve a desired aerodynamic behavior and supplemented with a rounded leading wing edge and a tapered trailing wing edge in order to form a complete profile with the least possible aerodynamic drag.
According to the prior art, there exists a variety of different connecting constructions for connecting leading wing edges to wing boxes. All these constructions comprise angle brackets, connecting bodies or similar elements that are connected to the wing box, as well as to the leading wing edge, by means of rivets or other connecting means. This results in, for example, a gap or a step being formed between an upper shell of the wing box and a skin panel of a leading wing edge, wherein this gap or step leads to a distortion of the laminar flow, in particular, at high flying speeds.